(male) English form of Latin Io(h)annes, New Testament Greek Iōannēs, a contracted form of the Hebrew name Johanan ‘God is gracious’ (the name of several different characters in the Old Testament, including one of King David's ‘mighty men’). John is the spelling used in the Authorized Version of the New Testament. The name is of great importance in early Christianity: it was borne by John the Baptist (the precursor of Christ himself, who baptized sinners in the River Jordan), by one of Christ's disciples (John the Apostle, a fisherman, brother of James), and by the author of the fourth gospel (John the Evangelist, identified in Christian tradition with the apostle, but more probably a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian living over half a century later). The name was also borne by many saints and by twenty-three popes, including John XXIII (Giuseppe Roncalli, 1881–1963), whose popularity was yet another factor influencing people to choose this given name. It was also a royal name, being borne by eight Byzantine emperors and by kings of Hungary, Poland, Portugal, France, and elsewhere. Among numerous bearers of note in recent times have been American president John F. Kennedy (1917–63) and British pop singer John Lennon (1940–80). In its various forms in different languages, it has been the most perennially popular of all Christian names.
Cognates: Irish: Eoin, Seán. Scottish: Ian, Iain, Eòin, Seathan. Welsh: Ieuan, Sión. German: Johann, Johannes. Dutch: Jan. Danish, Norwegian: Jens, Johan, Jan. Swedish: Johan, Jöns, Jon, Jan. French: Jean. Spanish: Juan. Catalan: Joan. Portuguese: João. Italian: Giovanni, Gianni. Greek: Ioannis, Iannis. Russian: Ivan. Polish: Jan. Czech: Jan. Finnish: Juhani, Jussi, Hannu. Hungarian: János. Latvian: Janis, Jānis.
Pet forms: Johnny, Johnnie, Jack, Hank.
English: 1. name for someone who was related to an important local personality, from Middle English maugh, maw ‘relative’, especially by marriage (from Old English māge ‘female relative’). In the north of England this term was used more specifically to mean ‘brother-in-law’. 2. topographic name from Middle English mawe ‘meadow’. Some early forms, such as Sibilla de la Mawe (Suffolk 1275), clearly indicate a topographic origin, by reason of the preposition and article. 3. probably also from a Middle English personal name, Mawe, Old English Mēawa, perhaps originally a byname from Old English mǣw ‘sea mew’, ‘seagull’ (compare Mew).
